Lighten Up
by Fox Mcloud SNR
Summary: What does it mean to be a hero?


**Lighten Up**

**Just a quick one shot I thought of when working on "The Way Back". You could take this as in canon to that story and it's prequel if you wanted, if you did it would take place before either of those stories and before the events of Kung Fu Panda 2.**

It was early afternoon in the Valley of Peace and for once it deserved it's title for there hadn't been a major attack or invasion for several weeks. In the absence of any local threats The Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior have often been asked to also help defend neighboring towns and cities from evil. Po and Tigress have been taking the bulk of these requests and have been pushing themselves harder then ever before.

On this particular day however they had been given the day off and were alone in the palace, Shifu and the others had been called away to a distant village because of a higher rate in bandit attacks, the other masters wouldn't be back for a couple of days at the most.

Po and Tigress had decided instead of taking the day off as was intended they were to use their time off to train. They were currently sparring in front of the training hall, it was a hot day so it seemed a good idea to do it outside.

Po blocked Tigress's jump kick, he grabbed hold of her foot and flung her into the air, she gasped at the unique maneuver while flying upwards.

Po looked up so he could see where she would land so he could plan his next move. Unfortunately he threw Tigress into the glare of the sun, he looked up and was instantly blinded by it's harsh rays.

Seeing her opportunity she contorted herself and aimed a kick at Po's head, who in his panic turned suddenly and revealed a small bunny standing innocently behind him. Tigress gasped when she realized the rabbit was directly in her path.

Tigress changed her path mid-air and landed awkwardly colliding into the weapons rack. Spears, maces and staffs scattered across the courtyard wildly.

Po opened his eyes cautiously, he looked around at the courtyard and the very livid Tigress climbing out of a pile of weapons with surprise. He noticed that Tigress was glaring at something, he followed her eyes and saw the bunny who was now fidgeting nervously due to the tiger.

"Oh...hey they" he said awkwardly to the bunny, "You wouldn't happen to know what just happened would you?".

Tigress walked over to them angrily, "I was trying to get you from above but _she_" Tigress pointed at the rabbit "Got in the way!".

"Don't be so grumpy Tigress" Po chuckled, pushed down Tigress's outstretched arm and turned to the bunny, he smiled softly "What can I do for you little lady?".

The bunny looked at Tigress nervously and held up a small piece of paper "Could you sign this for me please Master Tigress"? she said softly.

"Go away!" snapped Tigress irritably. She was so sick of fans asking her for stuff, as far as she was concerned fans were just an annoying distraction.

The bunny's expression wilted at her tone, "S-sorry Master Tigress" she said quietly.

The bunny walked off dejectedly, Po gasped at Tigress's harshness.

When he was sure they were alone he turned on her angrily "Why did you do that Tigress? She didn't do anything to you she just wanted your autograph".

Tigress growled "She was getting in the way, now lets get back to training".

She threw a punch but Po just moved out of the way "No" he said simply.

She quickly regained her footing "What do you mean no?".

Po ignored her and walked off angrily, Tigress landed in front of him.

"Where do you think you're going panda?".

Po pushed her out of the way "I don't want to talk to you, train by yourself", before leaving he muttered "That's all you seem to care about".

Tigress unfortunately heard him and her ears flattened against her head in hurt, she watched him walk into the barracks and then she walked off to the training hall to finish the day's training session.

Throughout the rest of the day she couldn't get Po's words and reaction out of her mind.

Before long nightfall fell and she retired to bed, she didn't feel like eating so she decided to go one night without dinner.

She climbed on her bed and tried to get to sleep.

After a couple of hours trying she realized that she wasn't going to get any sleep that night. "Damn you Po and your...kindness" she grumbled, Tigress wasn't really angry with Po she knew he was right.

Tigress decided to go and meditate to clear her head, she went to her favorite meditation spot the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, as Tigress got closer she saw Po sitting down looking out towards the valley.

Tigress thought about walking off but decided to just confront Po about the afternoon's incident.

She got within ten feet of the panda but was stopped by him "Go away Tigress", the words were cold, clear and sounded very much like a threat. These were three things that one would never usually associate with Po.

"No I don't think I will" Tigress replied snidely, her tone softened "Po why are you upset with me?".

Po turned and looked her directly in the eye, "You were cruel to an innocent person, someone who didn't do anything to you, someone who looked up to you". Tigress realized that Po was taking this personally because this was exactly what she had acted like when they first met.

Despite realizing this Tigress replied in the worst possible way, "It was just a fan who cares?".

Po frowned at Tigress's callousness, "I'm a fan of yours too _Master _Tigress are you going to be cold to me too again? " he said through gritted teeth.

Tigress scoffed "Why are you making such a big deal out of this Po?".

He stared at her for a second before replying "Just go away Tigress you clearly don't care or understand" he turned away and looked out towards the horizon.

She gasped. Tigress walked up behind him and put a paw on his shoulder "Po" she said simply.

"Make me understand Po, I don't get it. All people want from me is my protection and I give that to them. Why is it so important that I sign a few bits of paper every so often?".

Po sighed and explained.

"Remember Tigress that you're not just an awesome kung fu master and believe me you're great at that. You're also a role model for people, for me growing up you were everything I could aspire to be, you were brave, fearless , graceful and focused which are all things that I _wish _I could be, that's why it's important...because people don't want a protector...they want a hero and you _are _one Tigress you just have to act like it, starting by being nice to your fans, remember that one day one might be fighting alongside you".

Po pushed her paw off and walked away abruptly.

Tigress was stunned, she had never thought of it like that, she felt _really _bad now and wished she could take the afternoon's events back.

She knew what she had to do, she thought it through a bit longer and then walked back to the barracks to sleep.

xxxxx

_The Next Morning_

Po woke up and groaned, he felt terrible. He had a hard time getting to sleep because of Tigress's actions the day before, Po just couldn't believe she had acted like towards that rabbit, he'd honestly thought she'd changed.

He got up and went towards the kitchen to get something to eat, on the way there he walked past Tigress's room. He put an ear up to her door to see of she was awake...he couldn't hear anything so he assumed that she was already up.

After eating his morning dumplings he decided to go and use the training hall, he still didn't want to train with Tigress.

As he got closer to the courtyard he heard noises coming from the inside, fearing bandits Po kicked the door in and what he saw shocked him.

Tigress was standing in the middle of the courtyard surrounded by many young animals, she was signing bits of paper for them.

Po's jaw dropped, he didn't think the message would've had gotten through at all.

Tigress looked up and saw Po, she nodded to him and smiled.

"Hey everyone look it's the Dragon Warrior! Do you want both our autographs" yelled Tigress to a loud cheer.

Po smirked and walked over to the sound of cheering fans, he helped Tigress out with all of the fans.

They did this for about twenty minutes until there was only one person left.

Tigress had specifically left this person until last, it was the bunny from yesterday. She was very nervous because she didn't know how Tigress was going to react especially after yesterday.

She knelt down to the same level as the bunny and smiled warmly at her. "Hello" Tigress said.

The bunny smiled when she realized that Tigress was being friendly.

Tigress frowned "Look I'm sorry for the way I acted yesterday I was out of line, I realize I truly am blessed to have people who look up to me".

The bunny hugged Tigress, she didn't know how to respond so she just accepted it.

"It's okay Master Tigress I forgive you" the bunny said in her soft voice.

Tigress smiled appreciatively and reached out to finally write her signature on the bunny's paper.

The bunny took back the paper and beamed at Tigress.

She went to leave but was stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder, "What's your name?" asked Tigress.

"It's Lily", the bunny walked off back home.

Tigress stood back up and walked over to Po who had watched the scene with a massive grin on his face.

Po hugged Tigress tightly, "I'm proud of you Tigress" he said simply.

Tigress blushed at his forwardness but unlike the bunny's attempt she actually accepted the hug.

She pulled away "Thank you Po, I'm sorry for being a jerk yesterday".

Po gave a wave of his hand nonchalantly "It's okay Tigress, you wanna go get something to eat?".

She nodded enthusiastically "Sure I could go for some tofu".

Po chuckled "One day I'll get you to eat my food".

They began to walk back to the kitchen.

"Say Tigress can I ask you something?" asked Po nervously.

She stopped and looked at him oddly "Yeah sure, what is it?".

Po twiddled with him thumbs nervously "C-can I have your autograph?".

Tigress face palmed, she started to chuckle "Of course you can Po, but in return can I have yours?".

Po gave a double take "Why would you want mine?".

Tigress smiled at him warmly "Because I'm your number one fan".

**I hope you enjoyed!**


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